Altruism
by Ark Navy
Summary: [Threeplusshot] There are times when one must do whatever they can to survive. There are times when one must protect another with their life... and then there are times when one must choose. It is a choice that will try even the best of friends.
1. Avalanche

_Altruism 

* * *

_

**Summary**: (Three-shot) There are times when one must do whatever they can to survive. There are times when one must protect another with their life... and then there are times when one must choose. It is a choice that will try even the best of friends.

**Spoilers**: I highly advise that you not read this unless you have made it past Mt. Roneal (first time around).

**A/N**: Another one of those odd urges at night spurred on this. Honestly, in the game, they could've done so much more with this certain situation…

Though this isn't my best work, I hope the next two chapters will more than make up for this starting one.

* * *

The sound of gun shots rang through the vast snow covered mountain range, the clash of blades and shouts close in its wake. A fierce battle ensued on the plains of the Roneal mountains, which seemed to quell after the shrill cry of a fallen girl. Then, however, it was too late to retract the trigger—the bullet had been shot, as smoke trickled from the searing barrel.

Although, to say it was actually rather frosty would in fact be an understatement.

When all three of the God-Generals appeared incapacitated, for the moment, anyway, Tear took her eyes off them to look up the side of the mountain. Her battled hardened eyes quickly filled fear as she exclaimed, "Our battle has triggered an avalanche!"

"Everyone!" Jade commanded as the snow surged towards them. "Get—"

White flooded their vision.

* * *

Jade was the first to regain consciousness… as far as he knew, anyway. Covered in an icy quilt of snow, he immediately began trying to work his way out, he'd count his blessings for merely surviving such an avalanche later. Time was of the essence as, he knew from living in the snow covered city of Keterburg, there were very few pockets of air beneath many feet of snow.

Ice crystals clung harmlessly to his hair and apparel, his glasses completely coated with the icy water it had melted into. It wasn't that he necessarily needed to be able to see through the lenses, but rather he found them increasingly bothersome as he tried to distinguish white from off-white. That alone could determine whether he would escape, or simply continue to meander within the drift.

Still… the watery blurs were driving him insane, bit by bit…

…Well, more insane than the Necromancer could stand to be, anyway.

Jade continued to scrape his way through to what he assumed to be the top. The snow only looked increasingly darker as he went on, so either he was headed in the wrong direction, or simply there was a lot of snow until he could reach the top.

He sighed, ending his dig. "This is inefficient."

Closing his eyes, he concentrated deeply, sorting through the air as one would when shifting for gold. His gold, however, was the fifth fonon—fire particles, in other words. Sixth fonons would work as well, but fire melts ice faster than light, and the faster, the better.

Finally, Jade felt he had gathered the necessary amount and cast.

* * *

Luckily for Guy, he had tumbled down with the avalanche sustaining only a few bumps and bruises and had managed to avoid getting trapped beneath the many layers of ice. Unfortunately, not everyone in their group had such a stroke of luck, as he grimly discovered when he arose from his spot. Atop the drift, he wasn't that cold, but those whose who got trapped below…

Guy shivered at the thought.

Working quickly, he began softly calling their names, "Luke? Tear! Natalia, Jade, Anise? Someone! Can you hear me?" Using his hands, he shoveled through the snow. Not even faltering as the ice cut time and time again through his raw flesh beneath his thin gloves.

He stopped. A muffled voice called out from beneath the drift. It was faint, but he could tell from the urgency nestled in their voice that they weren't dying, at the least.

"Where are you?" he asked, scanning the white around him. "Just keep talking, alright?"

Treading silently so their voice was still audible, Guy followed the voice until it led him to a bank of powder near the ledge where their battle had taken place. He set to work digging through the snow as fast as his arms would move. Soon enough, a white hand grabbed his tightly. "I can't move!" they pleaded. "Help me up!"

He nodded as he gripped their hand with both of his, then—after assuring his footing—pulled with all his strength that remained after their battle. He could feel them slowly easing their way free of the snow's grip. Shortly after, another hand surfaced, grasping the edge of their crumbling embankment. Guy went to take hold of their other hand, but felt himself stop as his eyes trailed the white of the glove leading him to see the tan and gold behind it.

It was Tear.

In his moment of realization, he almost let his hand slip out of hers. Limbs now shaking, he steeled himself and gripped her hands tightly once more. Sure, he had helped Anise in her moment of need, but Tear was something completely different. He knew this in his own mind, but still his body felt the need to remind him as he began to quiver more than ever.

"Not… now…" he reminded himself through clenched teeth. All he had to do was free her from the snow… simple.

With one more tug, he managed to pull her top half out from her bitter prison.

She cleared the strands of icy hair from her vision and slipped out clumsily. "Th-thank you, Guy." She sputtered.

By this time, Natalia had handled herself quite well and poked her head over the surface, as if coming up for air from a pool. She shook her head free of the icy crystals and broke free of the snow.

Once she finished wiping the stray snow from her uniform, Tear looked to Guy and asked, "Do you know if everyone else is alright?"

"No," he said, still recovering from his bout of tremors. "You and Natalia are the only ones I've—"

"_Flame Burst_!"

The ice adjacent to Guy was strewn into the air as the ground they stood on seemed to melt a couple inches. A few moments later, Jade climbed out of the miniature snow geyser he had created, sopping wet and very irritated.

"Tear, Guy, Natalia…" he counted.

"Don't forget me!" Mieu exclaimed shrilly, bursting out of Tear's item bag.

"…We're missing Anise and Luke." Jade stated, ignoring the Cheagle's interruption.

Tear nodded, shifting through the snow with her eyes. "Yes, they have to be around here somewhere… I hope,"

Carefully, he walked over to the edge of the ridge they'd fallen on, observing what lay below them with a solemn look. "…Or they could've fallen beyond this protrusion down to the…" he cut himself off—they weren't to be found here. He turned back to them, red eyes bleak. "…Let's search through his mound a bit, and remember to keep your voices low."

Tear looked away. Luke and Anise had plunged down the mountainside along with Arietta, Largo and Major Legretta…

It would be a miracle if _any_ of them survived.


	2. Dying Hopes

_Altruism 

* * *

_

**A/N**: As a reviewer so bluntly pointed out, I _did_ forget the Fon Master… Oops. Oh well, he would've just been an extra mouth to put words in, anyway. (So to speak…)

* * *

White was all he could remember, black was all he could see, gray was all he could hear and red was all he could feel. Scratchy, abrasive, muffled—that was his gray; fiery, sharp, raw—that was his red. The pain was incredible, every nerve in his body flared. _Surely_, he thought meekly, _surely… dead... dying, yes…_

Alas, something broke through the gray: somewhere beyond the blackness, a young girl was crying, and her cries were red.

Buried beneath the snow, Luke felt each cadenced breath strain his whole being with each inhale seemingly stretching him like an old rubber band. He struggled to form coherent thoughts through his throbbing temple, however he knew there was something warm gushing down his face and neck. He tried to budge his left arm through the icy snow to reach his aching head, only to have a scorching pain shoot through his entire arm that even the ice could not quell.

_Cold… snow from… avalnn…need out. _

Bracing himself, he used his right arm to try and blindly push through the layers of frost covering him. It was slow, tedious—_painful_—work, but after a few minutes, he felt the cold winds brush between his fingers. Carefully, he brought each leg back a bit so that they were bent at about ninety degrees and prepared to push himself up.

He yelped in unexpected pain, falling back down on his back as he intentionally had put weight on his left arm. Unlike last time, however, his whole arm flared relentlessly, and he clenched his teeth together as tight as humanly possible as he bit back an aggrieved groan.

Luke dared not open his eyes, and even if he were to try, he had a grave feeling that only one would work, anyway, for the warm liquid poured over and from his left eye and down his neck. But through the white, he remembered enough of where he was to know what he had to do to survive.

With an exaggerated effort not to move his left arm, he rolled himself onto his right side and placed his hand atop the snow he rested on. He tried to raise himself into a sitting position, but gasped as the snow beneath him began to cave in, slowly sliding downward. There was no time to think, Luke had to act.

Running solely on adrenaline, he temporarily disregarded the searing pain in both his left arm and head as he opened both eyes and, scrambling for anything to hold onto, threw himself out of his embankment of ice, managing to latch his arms around the trunk of a dead tree. He held on with all the strength he could muster as hoards of snow surged past him and down yet another cliff.

Everything became quiet once again, and Luke slumped onto the ground in exhaustion after the adrenaline rush left him virtually empty, groaning wretchedly from the surmounted misery. He shut his eyes as the combination of blood and tears stung them inexorably; placing his right hand over his left eye, he gasped as he felt blood, warm with life, flow freely from a gash that began at his forehead, traveled through his left eye and ended just below his ear.

Suddenly, a wave of heat swept over him, burning and receding like the tides of a scorching sea. He felt hot air rise in his throat, gagging him until he could feel the smoldering acids gushing from his stomach. Luke could do nothing but lay in a heap as everything in his stomach was forced out of him in a rush of blazing liquids.

It felt as if hours had passed before his nausea finally ceased and he could think clearly enough to push himself up to a sitting position with his right arm. His head pounded furiously while his left arm still seared with pain. He couldn't even muster the voice to groan in his agony—he really felt like he was going to die.

But before he could let himself accept that idea, the same noise that had once broken through the gray called to Luke yet again—this time softer, but still as red as earlier. He quieted, trying desperately to recognize it. He knew the voice, he knew who it was, but his broken mind couldn't comprehend any of the wordless cries. What he could discern, however, was that he was not alone.

Slowly, and with great effort, he rose to his feet, clinging with his good arm onto the tree to maintain his balance. "Who's there?!" he called out into the pallor around him, his voice raspy and dry.

The cries came to a halt as he heard, "L…Luke? Is that you? Where are you?!"

Luke cringed. The voice was small and… scared. "St-stay where you are! I'm coming to find you!"

"Please hurry, Luke!"

He nodded, biting back the intense pain as he forced himself to open his right eye wide enough for him to see. One step ahead, shakiness impeded his steps, giving him a fear to release his grip on the tree. But… he had to keep going. For better or for worse.

It took all his willpower to keep himself balanced as he trudged through the feet of snow towards the sound of the voice. As he neared the voice, he could clearly see colors and shapes taking form. Pink, black, yellow...

The shapes screamed in joy. "Oh, Luke! You're alive!"

Luke fell to his knees, lowering himself to her level. He smiled with relief. "Anise… you too…"

"Oh, Luke—" Anise covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as she audibly gasped. "Oh my gosh… you're bleeding everywhere!"

"Yeah… b-but you w-were…" he stuttered, finding it harder to form words.

Anise quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, stubbornly arguing, "I'm fine, but you…." The red rims around her eyes still remained. "I've only got one apple gel with me, so you take it."

Luke pushed her offer away. "N-no… you…"

But Anise pushed it right back just as hard. "No! Luke, you can't see, you can hardly walk and you're talking like a drunk! You need it way more than I do! And if you don't use it, then I won't and then we'll both die." She said, her small eyes as hard as stone. "Take it."

Even through his nebulous thought process, he knew what she said was true. Simply based on her attitude, he had sustained more injuries than she—that, and to try and argue with her was like arguing with a brick wall. She had picked that off that from Jade, he'd always figured.

"Th-thank you…"

Anise managed her cute smile. "There! Feeling better?"

In all honesty, none of the pain had subsided, but he did feel more apt to handle it. That, and his mind was a bit less fuzzy. "Yeah, thanks." He said. "Now, what happened to you? Why were you crying?"

She immediately frowned crossing her arms over her chest. "I was _not_ crying!" she replied staunchly. "…But I think I might've broken my leg…" Anise paused, as if she had to confirm or reject it to herself. "But that doesn't matter at the moment! You've got an ugly gash on your face, and unless we stop it from bleeding, things could get seriously bad!"

Luke shook his head. "They're already seriously bad as it is. And how are we going to do that? I don't have any medical supplies on me."

"Neither do I, but we can improvise." She answered simply. "Hand me your coat-thing."

"I can't, my left arm's broken."

"Oh brother! Fine, then turn around."

He wasn't sure what in the world Anise was up to, but he knew it was no use to wonder or doubt her when all they had out here in the wilderness was each other. A bit reluctantly, he turned as she withdrew a small blade from a pocket on her belt.

"Okay… hold still."

He felt her grab the tail of the right split of his coat, holding it taut, and—

_Rip!_

"There!" Anise chirped. "One more aand…"

"What the hell—"

_Rip!_

"—are you doing with my clothing?!" He asked exasperatedly, turning to face her.

She rolled her eyes. "Making a makeshift tourniquet and sling, of course! It's not like you're the handy kind of seventh fonist who can heal, and I can't use the seventh fonon at all, so we need something that'll last us until we find someone who _can_ heal."

Ignoring her blatant jab, Luke sighed, saying, "You're right, good idea. We'll also need something for your leg…"

"Gimme your head." Anise said, holding the new ragtag tourniquet in one hand, reaching for the young noble's head with the other. She bit back a notable wince as her leaning caused a sharp pain to shoot through her right leg. "This might hurt a… well, it's gonna hurt a lot."

As much as Luke knew this was for the better, he couldn't help but squirm as the cloth slowly came over the left side of his face. He could feel himself brace; it was coming, oh dear Lorelei, it was com—

He still cried out in surprise and pain. "Oow! Gaah, not so tight… dammit…"

"I'm sorry, but it has to be tight, otherwise the bleeding will continue."

"Why do I have a feeling you're not entirely sorry?"

She ignored his comment. "Arm time!" she exclaimed, punctuating it as she tied the final knot of the tourniquet.

He groaned, his head throbbed and he just _couldn't wait_ for little Nurse Anise' sling. "You know, you really need to learn better bed-side manners."

"I'm just a little on edge because this isn't exactly comfortable for me either, y'know." Anise snapped. "…Can you move your arm at all?"

Luke looked to his limp arm as it still pounded with a searing pain. She asked a good question: he didn't know if he could move it or not without the adrenaline controlling his actions. He hesitated before deciding against even trying to move it on its own, he felt it enough as it was. "…No, but I'll move it with my right."

"Make sure you cradle it with your right! If it's really broken, you don't want to get the two parts misaligned!" she warned as he moved to position it.

He did as she said, remarking, "Wow, Anise. You really know a lot about this stuff. What's with that?"

"Oracle Knight training one-oh-one," she answered quickly, "This'll probably hurt more since it's gonna be messy work…"

As gently as Anise could manage, she slipped the cloth under his arm, and then threaded it between his upper arm and chest, wrapping it around a few times, finally finishing it off by tying it around his torso. The whole time she did this, Luke had to clench his teeth together as tight as he could to keep himself from making any noise.

"There…" she said a bit wearily. "Is that good enough?"

Luke nodded, "Yeah, it'll do. Now, we need something for your leg." He looked around, then at his apparel. He then exclaimed, "…I know!" and set to work on undoing his belt buckle.

"Ooh, Luke... I was expecting something more romantic, buut…"

"You're thirteen; get your mind out of the gutter, sheesh."

Anise only giggled.

Before him, Luke laid out his sword, sheath and belt. "We can use my sheath as a stint, and belt to fasten it, but we need one more thing to fasten as well… Hold still."

Anise' eyes went wide as he lightly tugged on her Cantor's outfit. "Wh-what? No! You can't rip this! This is the only Cantor's uniform I have!"

"Yeah, and I have _thousands_ of these coats back at the Manor."

"You're rich! Just order another!"

Luke sighed, releasing his grip on the back of her split robe top. "Fine, but we need something else. This is do or die, and I'll be damned if I have to carry your dead body out of here."

For a moment, the only sound was that of the howling wind as it picked up over the snowy cliffs, sending a shiver down both their spines. Around them, there was nothing save for the crystal-esque covering that coated the ground and pine trees blanketed with snow. The jagged mountain passes loomed over head, casting their cold shadows all throughout their valleys. Anise looked down, clenching her small hands into fists.

"…I'm sorry, Luke." She said, sobbing. "I'm just so scared. We're lost out here in the middle of this freezing desert; we're nearly dying from out fall and everyone probably thinks we're dead anyways…"

Her words were soon lost as her barrier shattered and the fearful child finally broke through.

Luke wrapped his good arm around her tiny set of shoulders, allowing her to take solace in his embrace. "Don't worry. As long as we work together, we'll make it out of this alive, I promise."

Still, she continued to cry, her hot tears staining his clothes. "I don't wanna die…"


	3. Further Troubles

_Altruism 

* * *

_

**A/N**: Due to the wording at the end, this could be considered one ending to this story. However, that does not mean I will not simply leave it as that. So yes, I couldn't contain it to three chapters, in other words. XP So, one more will officially finish this. Thanks for sticking with it for this long.

* * *

"It's no use."

Natalia looked up sullenly from the hole she had busied herself in digging in blind hopes of unearthing their missing companions. It had been at least an hour or so since they had commenced the search and now as dusk drew ever nearer, they found that the odds, too, were waning like the daylight.

The brisk gales had picked up since the avalanche, which did not aid their cause in the least. Light patches of powdery snow constantly drifted about on the wind and covered what little progress they had made. Not only that, but the temperature had notably plummeted after the sun disappeared behind a thick quilt of clouds, greatly ominous in appearance as they crept out from behind the tops of the mountains like an evil haze.

"If they were trapped in the snow banks beneath us, we certainly would've found, or at least heard them by now." Jade continued, "There is always the possibility that they were simply not caught up in the avalanche as we were, but the chances of that are very slim. The only other option I can surmise is one of a more grim nature." He finished, his gaze wondering to the ledge of the dark precipice.

The silence between them hung heavily in the air like a sinister presence. Guy and Tear had also ceased their burrowing at Jade's notice; Tear rested on the ground, looking down drably, absently petting the just as downhearted Mieu who had nestled in her lap. Guy angrily sifted his hand through the snow, letting the silence carry on a bit longer before asking, a bit on edge, "Well… Now what do we do?"

"Miieeuu… I'm scared for Master!" the cheagle chirped.

Thinking realistically, Tear said, "At the moment, there's not much we _can_ do."

"But that doesn't mean we can renounce our efforts." Natalia added.

Guy nodded in agreement, brushing the stray crystals of snow from his clothing as he stood up. "Natalia's right. We can't give up on them, but at the same time, we'll have to stop and find some shelter for the night."

Jade sighed lightly, suggesting, "There is always the option that, if we hurry, we could make it back to Keterberg before dark, secure adequate supplies and renew our search tomorrow."

Natalia gasped at this proposition. "I cannot even accept the idea of that plan! If we retreat back to the city now, we would be abandoning them when they need us the most! They surely would not make it through the night if we were to leave."

"Princess, calm down." He urged passively, his own patience running close to thin. "First of all, we cannot be completely sure that they are even alive at this point. Certainly, I would imagine none of us want to believe such a grim truth, but if one is missing-in-action, it is better to assume them dead." He said with a straight face, eyes and tone colder than the howling winds. He went on just as stern, "Secondly, even if they survived, we have to put our stock in what we _know_ we have—in other words, we have to keep ourselves alive so we can avoid a complete loss and finish the mission they started."

A bitter silence stretched between them. Mieu suppressed a shiver, cuddling deeper into Tear's lap. Finally, Guy lowered his eyes, absently kicking at the snow around him. "Judging by your tone, I'd say you've encountered this sort of situation before, huh?" he asked despondently before looking him in the eye. "I know what you're saying is the smart thing to do, but I'd rather be an optimistic idiot than risk the chance of losing either of them. It's just the way I am."

Jade nodded in understanding, emotions detached as he simply acknowledged the thought behind Guy's decision. The wind now whispered at their backs; he looked to Tear. "I can easily assume Natalia's position on this matter. What about you, Tear?"

Tear looked worrisome and pensive, absently biting her bottom lip. Her eyes turned downcast as she spoke, "With my background as a soldier, I can't deny that Jade's plan would be the most intelligent and efficient use of our energy and time..." Before the others could entertain the idea of a tie, she continued, looking upward from her disheartened stare. "…But as a friend, I couldn't bear to leave anyone out in this harsh wilderness, especially at night. I would rather we stay."

More or less acquiescing to their desires, Jade nodded again, saying, "Then we should find a cavern or at least something to block out the wind. We can build a fire, catch some prey for dinner, and use the fire not only for warmth and cooking, but should Luke and Anise still be alive, the smoke should signal our location as well."

Guy was openly much more pleased with this idea. He grinned. "I remember there being a small cave on the path we took just before fighting the God-Generals. We could set up there."

Feeding off the blade master's enthusiasm, Mieu chirped, "_Mieu_! I'll gather some fire wood!"

"No," Jade quickly reproached. "We cannot afford anyone to split up, especially as the daylight weakens."

"But we're gonna need to make good use of the remaining daylight." Guy pointed out, suggesting, "We could go in teams—Natalia and I can be in charge of catching dinner."

"You're right." Tear stated, "So then Jade and I will gather some wood and start a fire… Is that all right, Colonel?"

He shrugged, "But of course, it's splendid to plan ahead. However, don't you think you're putting the cart before the horse? We still have to find an ample site."

* * *

The duo's progress—using the word to the lightest degree—was slow and arduous to begin with, and as the light waned and the winds grew colder, things only got worse. Not just that, but they could feel a heavy fatigue creep into their bodies and spirits.

Anise, being unable to walk on her broken leg and incapable of riding Tokunaga in her injured state, had managed to climb onto Luke's shoulders like a small child, her staff ready in one hand, lightly gripping Luke's hair for balance with the other. She kept her weary brown eyes peeled for any sign on danger.

Luke cradled his tender arm close to his body, tucked under his now tattered jacket. He held his sword awkwardly in his right hand as he trudged through the snow. His right eye cracked open as much as he would allow it, he depended almost entirely on Anise to be his eyes.

"Anise," he asked weakly, "Where are we? Do you know?"

She frowned, squinting to see ahead. "I have no idea. There's nothing to be seen—no trees, no rocks, no rivers, _nothing_!" she sighed. "Not to mention the—move to the right a little, the snow looks a bit less thick there—blizzard's picking up."

"_Fantastic_." Luke grumbled, taking a small step to the right.

Anise shook her head, thinking. "We need to find some shelter to last us through the night, and with it getting darker and darker it's gonna be hard. But we have to keep going! We can't stop!"

He rolled his eyes. "Easy for you to say."

"…Oh," she nervously giggled. "Sorry."

As they went on, thin patches of pine began to sprout in the distance as the tight path between the mountains began to widen, revealing icy valleys. Anise beamed as she looked ahead, pointing enthusiastically, "Luke, look! Doesn't this place look familiar?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You're my eyes, after all."

She paused. "I'm not sure… Oh, but we could look for our foot prints in the… Noo, that wouldn't work, not with all the new snow coming down…" she muttered, resting her chin on her hand in thought. She watched the frost-born crystals fall in a peaceful silence, the soft crunch of their footsteps in the snow the only sound to be heard for miles. She shivered slightly, bringing her arms in closer.

Luke sighed heavily, pinching his eyes—or rather, his one exposed eye—shut from time to time as tiny flakes would impede his vision. He shook his head free of the crystals that clung persistently to his hair.

Anise' heart plunged. Luke lurched forward suddenly, stumbling helplessly through the snow; she gripped his shoulders with all she had. In an instant, he had collapsed into the banks. She cried out in pain as his limp body crashed onto her broken leg, hastily scurrying out from underneath him without thinking. Tears welled at the edges of her eyes, "_Dammit_, Luke! Would it _kill you_ to be a bit more _careful_?!" she shrieked, nursing her leg.

A few moments passed before her pain had subsided a decent amount; she returned to her right mind. She sighed, looking in Luke's direction. "…Sorry, Luke, I didn't mean that." She paused, waiting for his response, but when he offered her none—not even a movement to acknowledge her—a foreboding shiver swept through her entire being. "…Luke?"

Hesitantly, she gently nudged his shoulder with her hand. A wave of relief swept over her when she felt his steady breathes exiting his body, but soon realized with insurmountable dread that he would be quick to freeze unless she could think of something—fast.

"Okay, okay, in order to keep warm, you've gotta know what's making you cold, and then fix that…" Anise quickly told herself, looking down, her eyes jumped back and forth as if she were reading through her thoughts. "Okay, so we're cold because it's cold…" she paused, "Can't fix that. Uum…"

She picked her head up, absently biting her lower lip. The evergreens shivered slightly in the wind, the snow sleeping atop their piney arms eroding into white wisps. Her eyes lit up. "The wind! So, we need a wind breaker…" Taking a hard look at her few resources, she remembered the igloos made by the children in St. Keterburg and how incredibly warm they were, despite being made out of snow.

Anise shook her head, casting her doubts aside; she had to make use of whatever she could. Both of their lives depended on her.

Hastily, she threw a clot of snow into the air, to assure from which direction the wind was coming. Nodding in affirmation, she used her arms to pull herself through the snow, keeping her broken leg taut straight until she was on the other side of Luke. She began to pack handfuls of snow together, slowly creating a makeshift barrier to partly shelter them from the howling gales.

She cringed slightly as her small hands soon became numb, but she disregarded it—they would've become numb from the cold sooner or later, anyway. Her wall finished, she scurried back over to Luke's side and gripped his hand tightly. She could feel the nerves in her hand scream as the warmth of his hand pierced her numbness. A tiny, relieved smile crossed her face; he was still alive and warm.

Anise continued to work quickly, covering Luke in a quilt of snow—she stopped, again checking on him—then set to work on covering herself as she lay next to the young noble. Once finished, she cuddled up close to him, a soft pink blush spreading across her face.

In case Luke was conscious, she explained, "We need to keep each other warm; it's the only way." Then she muttered to herself, "Besides, if Tear found us like this, I think she'd kill both of us."

Her comments were met with an icy silence, and she sighed, instinctively cuddling closer to him. "Hypothermia can set in when you fall asleep—it may be too late for you, Luke, but that's not a fault of yours." She whispered, "I've got to stay awake for the both of us, so we both can be warm enough to live. I don't want to die, Luke, and I don't want you to die either. So I've gotta stay awake..."

…She was asleep within minutes.


End file.
